Housing

Last updated:
29 10 2018

If you applied for asylum and have been granted a residence permit, you have the right to settle in Sweden. This applies even if you are a quota refugee and were granted a residence permit before arriving in Sweden.

Many people who have been granted a residence permit arrange their own housing.

A person living in a Migration Agency accommodation centre when their residence permit is granted, and who is unable to arrange their own housing, is eligible for help and support from the Migration Agency so they can settle in a municipality.

Help with accommodation

If you have been granted a residence permit and are living in a Migration Agency accommodation centre, or if you have arrived in Sweden as a quota refugee, you are eligible for help with settling in a municipality.

The Migration Agency can designate municipalities to receive people who have recently been granted a residence permit. This means that the municipality is responsible for arranging housing for those people.

You are not allowed to choose which municipality is designated to receive you. You will only receive one offer of a designated municipality for you to live in. If you turn this offer down you will be removed from the Migration Agency's reception system. This means you will no longer be entitled to an allowance and housing arranged by the Migration Agency, and that you will have to arrange your own housing.

The population register

Everyone who lives in Sweden is registered in the population register, which maintains data on who lives in Sweden and where.

Home equipment loan from CSN

If you have been granted a residence permit you may be eligible to borrow money from the Swedish Board of Student Finance, CSN, to buy furniture and other items for your home. This is known as a home equipment loan.

You can borrow money to buy things such as:

beds

chairs

plates

pots and pans

You are not entitled to borrow money to buy food or toilet paper, for example, or to pay the rent on your flat.

Eligibility for home equipment loans

You can borrow money if:

A municipality has received you after a designation from the Migration Agency.

You were at least 18 years old when you moved to the municipality.

Paying back the loan

You have to pay back the money you have borrowed. You have to begin paying it back two years after you first started receiving it.